Well, I hope this one turns out well enough to be liked. It is my first attempt at a story of this level. I also hope it will not be like anything else you've ever read under this game.

Disclaimer: I do not own Jak and Daxter, or any of the characters in this fiction.

Keira

Keira sighed.

She sighed again.

"This isn't working," she mumbled. She set her wrench back on the table, threw a tarp over her latest project, and put her face mask on a hook on her tool rack.

She left the garage and walked home slowly. No, that wasn't quite right. It wasn't home. It was just her place of residence.

They say that home is where the heart is. Keira didn't know where her heart was currently.

It was probably out with Sig, shooting Metal Heads and gaining acclaim as a powerful warrior. Or maybe it was at the Naughty Ottsel, having a drink and enjoying old battle stories with friends, Ashelin probably listening to his with rapt attention. Most likely it was in the desert, driving around and enjoying the wind whipping past as that seemed to be what made him the happiest.

Speaking of Ashelin, Keira wanted to be angry at her for trying to move in on him, jealous of her for getting to spend so much time with him, wanted to cry because she took his first kiss when she herself so desperately wanted that for herself. But she couldn't.

Ashelin was a good warrior, a good leader, and a good person. She may be strict, but she would never follow in her father's footsteps. She may have feelings for him, but she wasn't evil. She may have kissed him, but she wasn't trying to ruin Keira's life.

Keira crossed her arms, a frown adorning her face as she thought again of how Ashelin took his first kiss. Even though she couldn't be mad at the new barron, she could still be angsty about the situation everyonce in a while.

She sighed once more and let her hands fall to her sides.

"Thinking about it isn't helping anything," she said aloud.

When she finally got to her apartment in the slums she was in a thoroughly depressed mood. She had gone over the many times she and him had shared moments of contention and enjoyment. She also remembered the times that he and Ashelin had shared moments of the same kind.

She decided to take a shower to clear her head and wash the smudges of oil off her face and arms.

As she stripped down she began comparing her own body to Ashelin's. Her breasts were at least two bra sizes smaller than Ashelin's, her hips were wider almost to the point of freakishly large in her opinion while Ashelin's were perfect, Ashelin's face beautiful while hers was at best pretty, and let's not forget that Ashelin was one of his fellow warriors while Keira was merely a slightly tomboyish mechanic with a thing for racing.

Quite suddenly her thoughts moved to why she loved him.

She wasn't quite sure how she came to love him, but she did. She also knew that it wasn't some kind of fake romance that you'd find in most movies, books, and even some video games where the lead character and the romantic interest got together because of a series of dramatic and frightening events forced them into a feeble at best relationship because the main rescued or was rescued by the interest. Sure she herself had been saved by him more than once and it did make her feelings for him grow, but she loved him before Daxter even fell into that vat of Dark Eco turning him into a Precursor.

She stepped into the shower at last as she began going over the features that made him attractive to her in hopes of finding why she loved him. Maybe to prove to herself that she actually didn't love him but just held him in high regard.

The first fact was of course the fact that he was not hard on the eyes, his body covered in lithe muscle and a nice tan, his hair a mix of golden blonde and forrest green, his eyes a blue color that you could easily lose yourself in. Second was his courage, he was never afraid of anything and always willing to help out for a good cause... even if it meant doing bad deeds to achieve the good goals. Third had to be his attitude, when he was younger his boyish innocence and curiosity, recently how he seemed to be able focus so heavily on fighting, but could still cool down and have some fun. Fourth had to be his ability to handle damn near any situation thrown at him.

"But none of those make me love him," she mumbled to herself as she began to lather her hair, "They wouldn't be bad reasons, but they arn't the reason."

She tried to go over all her memories since she first met him so long ago in Sandover Village till where she was now, but she still couldn't put her finger on the reason why. She was beginning to think maybe it was just a crush. That, like she had hoped earlier, she really didn't love him.

"Maybe I don't love him," she tried admitting aloud as she began srubbing her body, but it left a painful knot in her heart that told her that was absolutely not true.

Then a thought occured to her.

"Maybe... I don't know because... I'm not the one who can make him happy," she said, her raspy voice cracking with sorrow a thousand times more painful than her previous assumption. But this one was worse... because it might be true.

She rinsed off and stepped out of the shower. She dried herself off, dressed in clean clothing, and left the bathroom. She sat on her couch and just stared at her wall, pondering about the times she had made him smile that smile that had never changed over the years. A few tears leaked out of her eyes as she began to realize she may have only ever caught his attention as a friend.

She wiped them away and tried to take comfort in the fact that she was even that close to him. If just one of an endless amount of moments in time were changed they would probably have never even met.

Part of her tried to tell her that if they had never met that perhaps she wouldn't be so sad right now.

She immediately squashed that part down. She knew for a fact that, even if she was sad right now, just knowing him made her a thousand, no a million, times better than she ever feel if she never met him.

She was startled out of her thoughts by a loud anxious knocking.

She got up, opened the door, and was surprised to see Daxter standing their a highly worried look on his face.

"Keira! Jak's been hurt!" Behind the ottsel Jak was layed out on a hover car moaning in pain, "I tried to take him to a hospital, but he kept telling me to bring him to you!"

Keira raced out of her apartment, Daxter hot on her heels. She began checking him for injuries when she noticed the discoloring on his left hand.

"Oh my god! What happened, Daxter?" she asked as she lifted the groaning Jak to his feet, pulling one of his arms over her shoulders to help support him.

"Jak and I were exploring the mines, trying to make sure all the Metal Heads were gone before any of the paleo-guys came down to check them out. I had just taken out one of the biggest baddest Metal Heads you've ever seen," Keira knew he was lying, but it was part of him so she ignored it, "and I was caught off guard by a Scorpion. Before it could get me Jak pushed me out of the way, but it stung him on his hand. At first he was fine, but after we made it out of the mine he collapsed."

Once inside, Keira put Jak down on the couch and turned to Daxter.

"Dax, I keep a storage of Green Eco in my garage at the race tracks in case I get hurt tinkering with the bikes. I need you to go get some for Jak as fast as you can," She had moved to her small kitchen and was preparing a bowl of water and a wash cloth.

"On it!" he said and ran for the door shouting out, "Hang on, Jak! I'll be back before you know it!"

Keira came back into the living room and placed the wet wash rag on Jak's forehead then went to get a thin blanket. She came back and stripped him to his boxers carefully, trying not to blush at seeing him in such a state. She placed the thin blanket over him and it seem to soothe him a little.

"K... Keira," he groaned weakly.

"I'm right here, Jak, you just hold on till Daxter gets back," she told him in a soft tone. She took one of his hands in her own and squeezed it gently to let him know she was there. He squeezed back weakly.

Another ten minutes and Daxter came back with the Eco. Keira pushed it into his flesh near his heart to speed up the healing process.

"It's gonna take a while for it to completely clear out the poison. Why don't you go home. I'm sure Tess would be glad to hear that you're alright," Keira told Daxter. He just nodded and headed out of the door, still clearly worried for his best friend.

Keira walked over to the couch to keep a vigilant watch over Jak.

After a small amount of debate within herself she decided to move on to the couch with Jak's head resting on her thigh. Even if she wasn't the one that could make him truly happy she could at least pretend for a little while that she was.

Just little bit later Jak woke up.

"Keira?" he still sounded weak from the poison.

"I'm here, Jak. We gave you some Green Eco to cure the poison. You're gonna be okay."

Jak grinned, his eyelids dropping half shut, "You always did know how to make me feel better, Keira. That's why I love you."

At first, shock. Mind numbing shock at his admission. Then it turned into an explosion of glee and happiness that, had Jak not been using her thigh as a pillow, She probably would have jumped up and down in celebration.

"I love you too, Jak," she said softly to him. She leaned down and kissed his forehead.

He grinned once more before falling unconscious again.

With how happy Keira now felt she almost found it impossible that she could have had such dark thoughts about her relationship with the Eco Warrior earlier in the day. Amazing how one sentence completely changed her mood.

And it was then that she knew why she loved him.

"Because he always makes me feel better too," she smiled, stroking his hair.

--- End ---+

A/N: OK, there you go. I hope you like it. I'm not sure if I will, but I might continue this beyond this chapter. You'l just have to wait and see how it plays out.